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This one's based on a true tale... Ricky's in his local Sainsbury's at the self service check out, which was empty when he arrived. After buying his goods, he realises there's a tenner change not picked up by the previous customer. He hands the money in, but as he's leaving sees the shop worker put the cash in his pocket. Should he go back and complain?

Well, this happened to me once; I handed in a fiver at Tesco which was left in the tray of a self service machine, saw the SA pocket it and not make any effort to pass it on. I didn't do anything other than resolve to keep the money if I ever found any there again.

Flickering Embers grow higher and higher...I need a break and I wanna be a paperback writer!

Once upon a time (in a rush - DD moaning, DH needed picking up and 3 dogs needed walking) forgot to pick up the change (£5) realised when I got to the door - went back to the till and was grilled, reciept checked, made to feel I was trying to con them out of £5.

DH on other hand says no - its a horrble job anyway and they rarely get thanks.

I'd go up to the shop assistant, say I saw them pocket it, and that no doubt the CCTV did as well. In exchange for keeping schtum, I'd expect half of the money, which I'd then put into the charity box at the customer service desk.

Replies to posts are always welcome, If I have made a mistake in the post, I am human, tell me nicely and it will be corrected. If your reply cannot be nice, has an underlying issue, or you believe that you are God, please post in another forum. Thank you

I work for Sainsbury's and i'm sure none of my colleagues would ever do this!
But yeah, i would complain, and hand it into the Customer Service Desk, you can claim the cash if no-one collects it after 2 months, or it'll go to charity

I would complain.
I worked in Tesco over the summer last year as a security guard and would always take any money I was given to the customer service desk and fill in the "found property" book, as would anybody else manning the self service tills (unless they gave it to me to take over). I did however hear of one of the agency security guards pocketing the money he was given.
It is technically stealing, and I think any unclaimed money is donated to charity. At Tesco, if you hand the money into the customer service desk yourself and have them fill the "found property" book out, get them to give you one of the carbon copy pages. If the money hasn't been claimed within 28 days I believe you can ask for it on production of the page. Unfortunately staff aren't able to claim anything they've found (in case they drop money from their till and "find" it).

The store employee had a decision to make, either to leave the money where it was and it surely wouldn't remain there for long, hand it in to his or her supervisor or keep it. I would do nothing, the employee could have been exercising either of the last two options, in any case it would be impossible to trace the original owner so it is a case of "finders keepers".

You don't know what the intentions of the store worker are at the point. Ok it doesn't look well but they might be intending to hand it in and have gone on autopilot and put it in their pocket in the meantime.
I wouldn't exactly 'complain' but I would inform a senior member of staff who may then decide to wait and see what happens.
If that person is dishonest, they need weeding out.
PS Well done to the assistant who chased after me in M&S Leeds yesterday after I left a note in the self check out!

I work on selfserve also and think he should go to customer service and tell them what time, which operator and which checkout. We have a policy where if a customer leaves money a form is filled in and filed in case the customer realises his loss and returns. It may well be that the operator has intended to do a similar process and although not appearing to be busy there is a lot to do on selfserve. Been there myself and you're not supposed to leave your position on selfserve. Another alternative is to ask the operator if the customer had returned to collect his money and test the reaction, if guilty they probably won't do it again!

I used to work in a pub, and found what I thought was some paper on the floor. Imagine my shock when i picked it up, and saw a beautiful £50 (yes £50) note in my hand.

I handed it to my boss, as I was of the mind that noone would walk away from a note that big going missing, and asked what he would do if noone collected it. He - with a big smile - said that he'd split it with me the following week if it was unclaimed.

Yeah right - never saw that money again, and as I was only part way through my shift, knew for a fact that it was not collocted by the time i left that night.

I'm the sort of person that picks pennies up off the floor, and pitches them into the nearest charity pot I can find, £10 would have been nice, but if I had pocketed it, and the rightful owner had come back - yup - stealing, lost job etc. Hand it in, and get a receipt off customer services advise them that if unclaimed, you don't want it, and put it in the charity pot.

Money saving yes, taking the cash - no.

Last edited by purplegaily; 25-11-2009 at 8:42 AM.
Reason: typotastic

Always on the look out for a bargain. Thanks if you've helped me bag one.

they can do club card matching, as I've had product recalls sent to me because I've used my Club Card to buy items that have subsequently had to be returned. They watch what you buy, but I'm sure it doesn't work both ways.........

Always on the look out for a bargain. Thanks if you've helped me bag one.

When I worked in a shop, if someone handed me a note I wouldn't have thought anything of putting it in my pocket so that I could continue to serve/help customers as necessary and then drop it off downstairs at the earliest convenience. If there was no-one else on the shop floor, I wouldn't be able to tell them that I was looking after it until I could take it to the office - so it would be impossible to tell whether I was stealing it or not.

Had I been accused of theft in those circumstances I would've been fairly angry at the suggestion... so no, without proof I wouldn't make any accusations.

Hand it in & ask for proof that you have or you could inform the customer service that you've found it & are handing it in to the Police Station, those who say keep it & say "Finders keepers" are as dodgy as Fagin,remember one day it could be your £5 or worse your Mum's or your Gran's, also I find that what goes around comes around & if your dishonest it tends to bite you in the bum & yes it is dishonest & not luck,so you may find a £5 but then may lose a £20 of your own & I wonder would you want someone to hand that in????

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